


Toeing The Precious Line

by LadyDrace



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Beta Derek Hale, Future Fic, Getting Together, M/M, POV Derek Hale, Parent Stiles, Police Officer Stiles Stilinski
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-20 16:33:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9500249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyDrace/pseuds/LadyDrace
Summary: Stiles is back in Beacon Hills after several years, and Derek is done wasting time. He's gonna see if thealmostthey once had can be become an actualsomething. There's an unexpected hurdle, though.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [Rubyredhoodling](http://rubyredhoodling.tumblr.com/). <3
> 
> Unbetaed, but thoroughly edited. 

Stiles is back in Beacon Hills.

 

This isn't news, exactly, because Derek has been having chats with Sheriff Stilinski roughly twice a month for years now. Sometimes more, if a case is giving off a supernatural vibe. Scott is the alpha of the area, so technically he's supposed to be handling these things, but even _he's_ willing to admit that Derek is the local authority on this stuff, and generally accepts his help.

 

Derek doesn't regret coming back to Beacon Hills himself. He spent a few years with Cora's pack, just to get away from everything for a while, and it was nice, but it wasn't home. It was for Cora, though, so they said their goodbyes, and that was that. By some perfect case of irony, though, Derek returned just as Stiles went off to the academy, and while there's no doubt they'd had... _something_ between them, it was nowhere near enough to build on back then. Not for either of them. Derek had still been too broken to even consider letting anyone in properly, and if Stiles hadn't left when he did... there's no doubt he would have ended up like Derek eventually.

 

So it was all for the best.

 

But Stiles has been gone for seven years now. According to his father he's currently single but possibly looking to settle down, considering he's moving back to be close to the pack and his dad. Derek has seen thirty come and go a while back, he's had a lot of therapy, even dated casually a few times, and frankly, he's _ready_. He's ready to try and go for it. If there's even a shred of that connection left that they'd had back when Derek was still too hurt and Stiles was still too young, then Derek is determined to chase it.

 

So he's prepared to be completely unsubtle about it as he turns up on the doorstep of the nice little house Stiles has rented. A Tupperware filled with his best stew for two is held out like a gift as he rings the doorbell, only to be faced with... a teenager.

 

”Who are you?” the kid asks with the trademark bluntness of teens everywhere, and the Tupperware sinks a little bit in Derek's hands.

 

”Uh. I'm Derek. Who are _you?_ ”

 

”Teddy!” Stiles' voice cries from inside the house, and Derek breathes a small sigh of relief that he at least didn't somehow get the wrong address. ”Who's at the door?”

 

”Some dude with food!” Teddy calls back, and Derek is about to argue that he does in fact have a name when Stiles comes bounding down the hall to the door, stopping dead when he sees Derek.

 

”Surprise?” Derek says weakly, unsure of how Stiles will even react to seeing him, but he doesn't have to worry for long. He almost drops the Tupperware when Stiles launches himself at him for a bone-creaking hug, and Derek shamelessly enjoys the hell out of it.

 

“Derek?! Oh my god! Wow, it's been like ten years or something!” Stiles says into his shoulder, exaggerating like always, making Derek smile from the familiarity.

 

“Hardly. I was there for your dad's birthday like two years ago, remember?”

 

Stiles pulls back, only to punch him lightly in the shoulder, as if needing to make up for the affectionate welcome with some good ol' fashioned dudeness. “But we hardly got to talk! It's like I haven't seen you in forever!”

 

Derek silently agrees. It feels like half a lifetime since they were in the same room for long enough that it mattered. “Come on in, man. And you brought actual food! That's perfect, Teddy was just about to win the argument about pizza. We'll have vitamins today too! Victory!”

 

“Ugh,” Teddy says, glaring at Derek as he slams the door behind them. He trudges off to what Derek assumes is his room, and slams the door there too for good measure. Derek sends Stiles a questioning glance, but only gets a shrug in return.

 

“Teenagers, huh? So much angst. I'm _so_ glad that part of _my_ life is over,” Stiles says, cracking the lid on the Tupperware to take a sniff. “Mmm, smells amazing. Thanks, Derek, seriously. I'm not exactly an expert at this whole parenting deal yet, but I do wanna at least _try_ and get some nutrition into the kid.”

 

“Parenting?” Derek eventually manages, feeling like he's missed something pretty vital somewhere.

 

“Yeah,” Stiles says, his face going weirdly soft. “The adoption was final last month. I almost thought it wouldn't happen before moving day, the paperwork was _so_ slow.” It finally seems to dawn on Stiles that Derek is confused, and he puts the stew down carefully in the kitchen. “Wait... Dad didn't tell you? He claims you guys talk on the regular.”

 

“Pretty sure I would've remembered any mention of you adopting a kid.” Derek tries not to sound too pouty about being left out, but he probably fails.

 

For a moment Stiles just stares at him, but then he grins, crooked and familiar in a way that makes Derek's stomach go a little gooey. It's still there. The thing that got them to _almost_ but no further. There's still a tiny seed of it between them, ready to be nurtured. “All right, if I'm being totally honest I don't think anyone were prepared for me becoming an actual father. Sure shocked the hell outta Dad when I called him grandpa for the first time.”

 

“How did that even happen, though?” Derek asks, and moves a half unpacked moving box off the nearest chair so he can sit down.

 

Stiles moves a stack of books off another chair and sits down too. “Well, the LAPD has this mentor program, right? Kinda like a big brother thing. I signed up for it mostly because I was bored, and, well. I got Teddy. He's... kinda been through the wringer. Not my story to tell,” he says, casting a glance down the hall to Teddy's room. “But one thing kinda led to another, and then I ended up fostering him, and he's in on the whole supernatural thing all on his own, and... I dunno, adopting seemed like the next logical step.”

 

“Is that why you moved back home?”

 

“Partly. But I'd always sorta planned on coming back eventually. And don't get me wrong, the LAPD _totally_ loved me,” Stiles says in a lighthearted way that makes it clear it's not entirely true, but probably also not a lie. Like everything else in their lives, it's obviously too complicated for simple small talk. “But they also kinda loved to see me go, so.”

 

He shrugs like it isn't his whole life being defined in a few short jokes, and Derek aches with the urge to try and make things better for him somehow. Him _and_ this kid Teddy who's family now.

 

“Anyway, thanks for the stew, I actually don't even have time to cook. Dad's having a little welcome home thing tonight at his house, so...” Stiles says, already spooning the stew into two bowls to be heated in the microwave, handing Derek the empty container back. His hopes of a nice, quiet meal with just the two of them is obviously not gonna be a thing, but he can't even bring himself to feel bad about it, because there's something very basic and satisfying about providing for Stiles and his child.

 

“Hey, you should come tonight!” Stiles says, clearing the kitchen table of clutter while the food heats. “I gotta feed the bottomless pit and maybe convince him to do some basic grooming, so it's probably gonna take another hour until we're good to go, but... I'd love to see you there,” he says, not a hint of a lie to be heard in his heartbeat, and Derek nods without even thinking about it.

 

“Okay. Sure. I'll be there,” he says, and leaves with a smile on his face.

 

It's a small gathering at the Sheriff's house, but it's also nice. Just Scott and the pack, Stiles and Teddy, Melissa and John, and Derek as a last addition. No one seems really that surprised to see him. It's a little strange, because it's not like he hangs out with any of them that much socially. He's with the pack as needed to maintain pack bonds, but there's no doubt he's kind of an outlier. John keeps in touch mostly for his job, and in general Derek feels he's only included for social events on whims every so often. It suits him fine, actually.

 

But it's also really nice to be greeted like he's supposed to be there. Like he's a natural component of their pack life, and he's actually feeling really good, right up until the moment he's faced with Teddy. Who wastes no time making his dislike of Derek abundantly clear.

 

“You need to back off,” Teddy says, without preamble, and Derek blinks in surprise.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“From Stiles.”

 

As weird as it is to be practically stared down by a kid who can't be more than fourteen, it actually gets to Derek, because even though he hasn't spent more than a few minutes around Teddy in total, just knowing he's _Stiles'_ makes Derek want to please him, in a very primal sort of way.

 

“Uhm. I'm not sure I follow,” he says cautiously, because he's kinda hoping he's misunderstanding the meaning, here.

 

Teddy rolls his eyes again, and even if he wasn't now officially part of the Stilinski family, he'd sure fit in with no trouble. “Right, look, I'm not gonna argue that he's a handsome dude or whatever, but if you could just take your libido somewhere else, that'd be great, thanks.”

 

Derek damn near chokes on his drink, because _woah_.

 

”I'm just saying,” Teddy continues, ”he only _just_ adopted me, right, and we only _just_ moved here. We don't need a round of love 'em and leave 'em right now. And if you could respect that and maybe fu- take off, that'd probably be better for all of us.”

 

Derek hardly knows what to do with that. ”Look, uh... I think maybe you should talk to Stiles about this,” he says cautiously, because frankly he's afraid of stepping on anyone's toes, here.

 

”Are you outta your mind?” Teddy snorts, crossing his arms over his chest and curling into himself slightly. ”I'm already a walking shitstorm, I'm not gonna butt into his lovelife too.”

 

”You kinda just did,” Derek points out, and immediately feels like crap for it.

 

”Yeah, but if I piss _you_ off you can't send me back to foster care.”

 

Scratch that. _Now_ Derek feels like crap. He doesn't know Teddy's issues or his history, but he does know Stiles, and if there's one thing you can count on with a Stilinski, it's their fierce loyalty. ”Stiles wouldn't do that,” he says firmly, but Teddy just huffs.

 

”That's what Sheila said too. She'd never send me back. And the Kellers. And Janice. Guess what. Promises like that have a way of becoming invalid when you're dropped off by a patrol car for the third time in a week,” he says acidly, and shakes himself visibly, like forcing the memories out of his head. “In any case, if you could just... _not_. I'd appreciate it.” He stomps off, leaving Derek in the middle of the room, feeling lost as people are chatting and laughing around him.

 

Stiles looks over, having apparently noticed the exchange even from too far away to hear any of it. He raises an eyebrow in question, and Derek shrugs helplessly, because what is he supposed to do with that?

 

After a few days of thinking it over, he decides the best course of action is just to keep going, and prove to Teddy as well as Stiles, that his intentions are serious. He's been ready for this for years, after all, letting something like this stop him is just not an option.

 

Teddy does _not_ appreciate his efforts. Every time Stiles accepts anything from Derek, be it flowers or food or favors, invariably Teddy will be there, glaring in the background. But Derek has waited this long for the time to be right, he can outlast this too.

 

As for Stiles, it's everything Derek hoped for. Obviously, Stiles is in the right place for it the same way Derek is, and within a couple of weeks they're pretty much back where they were before, circling each other, toeing that precious line of _something_ , just waiting to see who crosses it first. Only this time, the hesitation isn't due to legal or traumatic issues. This time it's Teddy standing between them like a disgruntled traffic cop, tripping them up every time they're on the edge.

 

But Derek was a kid like that once, too. The kind of child who's been through too much to even be called a child anymore, who is too hurt and angry to care about anything except protecting what few things he holds dear anymore, and Derek does his best to respect Teddy's boundaries, without giving Stiles reason to think he's chickening out.

 

It obviously catches Teddy off guard, because his hostility turns to distrust to confusion in a rapid snowball-roll as Derek brings out his cheesiest and most heartfelt flirtation, while at the same time keeping everything painfully PG, and never _ever_ trying to keep Teddy out of it.

 

Derek invites Stiles and Teddy to the movies. Helps them around the house. Brings them useful things or just stuff he thinks they'll like. It's almost amusing to watch Teddy's conflicted face as Derek brings him a Pokemon game he's been dying to have, but would obviously rather get from literally anyone but Derek.

 

“You really shouldn't spoil him,” Stiles says, but it's a token protest and they both know it. Teddy's been through enough to deserve to be spoiled, and Derek is more than happy to spend his money on something like this.

 

He takes them out for meals, to the ice rink, to the park. He gives Teddy his space, and firmly ignores all the sneers and grimaces and glares coming his way from that judgmental teenage face.

 

“Hey, Derek,” Stiles says one day, as they're walking through the mall for no reason other than to hang out and let Teddy look through the shops. Derek looks over at him, and is met with a beaming smile, and a warm hand folding into his own. “Thanks for doing this.” Stiles' voice is soft and private, and Derek's gut swoops with joy. The joy is short-lived, though, because barely a minute later, Teddy is being escorted out of a store for shoplifting.

 

Stiles uses his pull with local law enforcement to get Teddy off the hook, but the ride back is a tense affair, and Derek doesn't argue when Stiles thanks him distractedly, before shutting the door in his face. Obviously he and Teddy have some things to discuss.

 

Derek isn't put off, though, and the very next day he's back, knocking on the door. When Teddy opens, Derek wastes no time handing him one of the bracelets he'd been eyeing with interest the day before. “Here. I hope it's the right one. If not, you can take it back, I don't mind,” he says, and slips inside while Teddy is holding the bracelet like it's gonna bite him, obviously stunned. “Where's Stiles?”

 

“Bathroom,” Teddy says shortly. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

Teddy slams the door, and turns his stare to Derek instead, like he literally has two heads. “I mean it. What he actual fuck is wrong with you?! Why are you still doing this? What do you even want?!”

 

Derek meets his gaze head on. And as difficult as it is for him to be open and honest about what goes on in his head, he's determined to give Teddy nothing less than the absolute truth. “I want Stiles. And Stiles comes with you, you're a package deal. So I want you too.”

 

“Why the fuck would you want that?!” Teddy cries, flailing his arms around in a way that reminds Derek so much of Stiles that he almost doesn't shut down his smile in time.

 

“Because back when Stiles was only a few years older than you are now, I already admired him and cared about him. But he was young, and I was... broken,” Derek admits, swallowing before he can move on. “We weren't ready yet. But it's been a long time now. We've both come so far, and we've both changed. And... I still care about him. A lot. And he cares about you. So I'm gonna care about you as well. You're family. And I know you don't know me, but if there's one thing in this world that's important to me, it's family. You can ask Stiles about that.”

 

Teddy searches his face, as if looking for a lie somewhere, and Derek forces himself to keep everything open.

 

“You people are all weirdos,” Teddy whispers, and Derek can't help but huff out a small laugh.

 

“You don't know the half of it.”

 

“Dude, I'm serious. Scott and the pack act like the sun shines out of my ass, John wants me to call him _grandpa_ , the cop that almost took me in patted my fucking head and called me _a chip off the ol' block_ like we're in a Disney movie or something! Is this the fucking Twilight Zone?!”

 

“Close enough,” Derek says, and Stiles comes in, looking for all the world like he wasn't just listening by the door.

 

“Hi, Derek,” Stiles says, leaning in to press a tiny kiss to Derek's cheek, which immediately makes him lose track of everything around him. Stiles then proceeds to take his hand, and by the time Derek regains the use of his senses, Stiles and Teddy are having a silent conversation that ends with Teddy rolling his eyes so hard it looks painful, and then stomping to his room.

 

“Fucking _weirdos_ ,” he says again, and slams the door.

 

“Language!” Stiles cries, and then turns to Derek with a soft smile. “Thanks. For... you know. Being patient with him. He's been through a lot.”

 

“So have we,” Derek says, and Stiles nods.

 

“Yeah. We do live in the Twilight Zone, though, I probably should have prepared him for that a little more.”

 

Derek shrugs, and squeezes Stiles' hand. “He's a strong kid. He'll be fine. Just like his dad.”

 

Stiles' eyes get suspiciously watery, and Derek happily lets him change the subject to something less emotional.

 

Teddy still acts out a lot, especially whenever Derek comes a tiny step further into their lives. But things do eventually calm down, once Teddy finally realizes that nothing he does can make Stiles give up on him, and that Derek is equally determined to love him. He's still a work in progress. They all are, really.

 

“I guess you don't suck _completely_ ,” is what Teddy says one day at a pack event, when Derek uses his wolf reflexes to snatch a cookie and then sneak it to him without anyone noticing. It's such a small thing, and Teddy still glares at him. But he takes the cookie, and before they all part for the night, Stiles pulls Derek aside and kisses him so fervently it feels like Derek could _fly_ home.

 

It's not perfect. Derek isn't sure he even wants it to be, still not sure he'd be at all able _trust_ something perfect. But there are many more kisses and shared looks and held hands, and eventually Teddy stops glaring at Derek, choosing instead to glare at the world around them.

 

And by the time Derek sells the loft and moves in with Teddy and Stiles, it's almost a drama-free occasion. “Welcome to the family, dork,” Teddy says, and throws Derek's shoes out the window with an evil grin. Derek then proceeds to beat his ass at Mario Kart, shamelessly using his reflexes to his advantage. Teddy only wins when Stiles leans in and breathes softly across Derek's ear to distract him, and Derek is more aware than ever that he's got his work cut out for him navigating between the two of them.

 

But they're family now. Terribly and wonderfully thrown together, and nothing will keep Derek from fighting for it.

 

End.

 


End file.
